Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy (HBHA) juniors and seniors recently returned from the school’s biannual Jewish Heritage Trip (JHT).
At HBHA, students look forward to JHT throughout their entire HBHA career; it is the most immersive experience the students receive. Students spend classroom time preparing for this trip throughout high school.
For the first time since 2018, HBHA juniors and seniors planned to attend the traditional JHT, traveling to Germany, Poland, Israel, and Sofia, Bulgaria, Jewish Federation of Kansas City’s sister city. Days before departure, the war between Israel and Iran caused a travel freeze, which canceled the Israeli portion of the itinerary and left the trip’s conclusion uncertain.
The trip had a rough start — the JHT group’s flight to Bulgaria was delayed several hours and later canceled, forcing the group to spend the night at the airport in Washington, D.C. The students spent Shabbat that evening in D.C. Shabbat was a time where the group bonded most, said Zohar Flacks, Upper School principal and director of Jewish Education. The nearby branch of Chabad hosted a Shabbat and introduced the students to the concept of a farbrengen (a Jewish gathering, usually with singing involved).
On March 8, the group arrived in Berlin, where they met David Solomon, their tour guide. There, he led two days of educational walking tours covering the Holocaust Memorial, Hitler’s bunker, and the Jewish Quarter in East Berlin. He also covered other historical and tourist locations, like the Berlin Wall. While in Berlin, Flacks announced a revised itinerary to complete the trip; instead of going to Israel, the group would continue to Prague and Spain after Poland.
After Berlin, the group traveled to Poland, where they spent five days filled with intense Holocaust history, visiting mass graves, museums, synagogues and several concentration camps. While going through such a heavy experience, the students journaled to reflect on their emotions.
Ethan Hobbs, an HBHA senior, said, “Visiting all the historic sites also reminded us how important it is to hold onto our Judaism and celebrate it with pride…It was very meaningful to me as someone who is passionate about spreading Judaism in a positive way.”
The most powerful moment of the trip for Hobbs was the visit to a mass children’s grave in Tarnów, Poland. At the gravesite, Flacks read a letter written during the Holocaust from a mother to her baby daughter. Before she sent her daughter away to safety, she sewed the letter into her daughter’s clothes. The letter contains messages of love, hopes and dreams for her daughter.
After listening to the letter, each student received a letter written by their parents. “There was not a dry eye in the entire group,” Flacks said. She said that this group felt comfortable to openly show their emotions, which “speaks to the level of relationships that we have” at HBHA.
As someone who has led several Holocaust trips, Flacks said it is special, “to (be in) Poland with people that you grew up with, that are truly your support system.”
HBHA juniors and seniors pose in Kraków, Poland. Pictured are (front fow, from left) Gabrielle Sosland, Naama Reem, Dani Glickman, Avital Mullokandova, Sabra Bergh, Ruby Sokol, Elia Ellis, Norah Pabst, Zohar Flacks, (back row) Sam Matsil, Naftali Tilove, Ben Rosenthal, Eliezer Rich, Ethan Hobbs, Eli Solomon, Shai Friedman, David Wasserman, Eric Fine, Emily Stang, and Ayla Williams. (Jessica Kyanka-Maggart)
Dr. Jessica Kyanka-Maggart, Lower and Middle School principal, also chaperoned, but unlike Flacks, the trip was new to her. She experienced everything as a first with the students.
When asked about her most meaningful experience, Dr. Kyanka-Maggart said, “I really loved the synagogue in Łańcut, (Poland) that was burned and then restored.”
The synagogue had a non-Jewish caretaker who spoke to the group in Hebrew. “When he said Am Yisrael Chai… and then he opened the doors, it was very theatric,” she said. “I don’t think he meant for it to be, but watching that all happen as an outsider… was really meaningful.”
While visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, students went to the famous room containing a book of 4,000,000 victims and spent time searching for their ancestors’ names.
Norah Pabst, an HBHA junior, chose the Auschwitz exhibit of the video containing European Jewry between both World Wars as her most meaningful moment. She said, “it was just very heartbreaking and meant a lot to me.”
After Poland, the group traveled to Prague. Students had free time in the main city square and learned its Jewish history. After going through Poland, “your mental (health) needs a break,” and the beauty of Prague did just that, Flacks said.
The scenery continued in Spain through Madrid, Barcelona and Toledo. This leg of the trip tracked Sephardic Jewish roots.
Dr. Kyanka-Maggart recalled a favorite memory from a cold and cloudy day, during which students “seiz[ed] the moment and [ran] into that frigid water” off the coast of Barcelona.
After the three-week trip and all of its unpredictability, the HBHA juniors and seniors returned home to their parents and family members waiting for them at the airport.
“It was transformative on so many levels for our students,” said Rabbi Elizabeth Bonney-Cohen, dean of Jewish life and community engagement, “both in terms of how it gave our students a sense of never taking for granted the robust Jewish experience they have every day, and the legacies they carry forward.”
